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It would take a lot to pair OBJ and the Rams. First, L.A. would need to bowl over the Giants with an offer. Then New York would have to admit they’re in full-on rebuild mode and don’t want to pay Beckham for the long-term. Then the Rams would have to decide whether to give the mercurial but uber-talented receiver a massive contract extension.

Hmm, I don’t want to say all that, he said with a smile, per The Times. That’s my boy.

Unless sides pull the trigger on a massive, landscape-changing deal, that’s all Beckham and Gurley will be: boys, not teammates.

As a practical matter, the ultimate deadline arrives in Week One, when Bryant’s $12.5 million salary becomes as a practical matter guaranteed. But the Cowboys also assume the risk of owing Bryant his full pay for the year the moment he shows up for the offseason program, since that’s when any season-ending injury occurring on team premises would guarantee his pay. So the sooner they make a decision, the better. It could be that they’re going to wait and see who they may be able to get in the draft before making a final decision on whether to seek a pay cut, how much of a cut they want, and whether they’re willing to cut him if he says no.

It would take a huge haul to pry Odell Beckham Jr. from the New York Giants, but the team’s decision to not put the kibosh on trade talks will keep rumors flying.

The team rumored to be most interested in acquiring the game-changing receiver is the Los Angeles Rams. Sean McVay’s team is deep into all-in mode this offseason, and it’s believed its interest in possibly acquiring OBJ is real, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

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The Dolphins have made plenty of big changes to the roster this offseason. The changes were sparked in part by the team’s effort, of lack thereof, during a 24-16 loss to the Bills.

“That game at Buffalo just seemed like a 20-hour game,” coach Adam Gase recently said on The Joe Rose Show, via the Palm Beach Post. “I was just waiting for us to turn the corner and really get going and nothing was working for us. There was no swagger, no attitude, and it was disappointing to see. It wasn’t everybody. You turn on that tape, there are guys that stand out noticeably as far as their effort and their play that was extremely high, and they were giving everything they had. We just did not have enough guys doing that. That’s why we felt like we needed to change some things around.”

The NFL folded its overseas developmental model in 2007, which left a void for a spring/developmental venture that the league has declined to fill.

Polian laughed when reflecting upon the underlying reason for NFL Europe’s demise.

“The unfortunate part was that it was in Europe,” he said. “It was difficult for people in the United Sates to relate to it.”

The Falcons are among the teams that have generally kept just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, and they have a veteran backup in Matt Schaub hanging around.

So whether or not they’re ready to move on from the 36-year-old Schaub (who’s in the second year of a two-year, $9 million deal), the notion of a younger backup to Matt Ryan isn’t without merit.

It’s not like Ryan needs a veteran mentor or anything, and it’s not like anyone thinks Schaub’s leading them to the playoffs if something awful happens to their starter. So taking a look at a late-round prospect like Lee could make some sense on a team with a number of young players who will be wanting contracts in the future (including Ryan). Or maybe they start keeping a third quarterback on the 53, and (NERD ALERT) let Schuab play Obi-Wan to some kid with a high midichlorian count.

Whether Lee’s the guy to make them think about such a plan or not (we don’t always hear about all the visits), it’s at least interesting that the Falcons are thinking about the future at the position.

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Gettleman and the Giants already traded Jason Pierre-Paul to the Buccaneers for loose change and are moving on from many of the big names they splurged on over the last two years. If they trade Beckham, even for a fistful of draft picks, they might as well make Quitting on Talent the team’s 2018 motto.

Granted, much of the talent quit on the Giants last year. It makes sense for a 3-13 team to shed some salary and move on from older players.

Their veterans grew expensive and cantankerous in the years since their championship, making a reboot inevitable.

The problem comes when a rebuilding team starts giving away its best rebuilding blocks, as the Giants are itching to do with Beckham and the Seahawks did with Richard Sherman, because they convince themselves that the locker room needs an attitude adjustment. That’s how teams either get stuck in endless rebuilding cycles or become mediocre for years, waiting for the stars to finally align and make everything perfect.

In their quest for alpha dogs, the Dolphins have added four players over 30, an edge-rusher who hasn’t tallied double-digit sacks since 2014 and a 35-catch-per-year slot receiver to replace their 100-catch-per-year slot receiver. They got older and less talented after a 6-10 season and are hailing it as progress. They’re poised to go 5-11 this year—but very professionally.

The Bills have been playing mad scientist with their team chemistry since head coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane arrived last offseason. The new regime traded offensive starters Tyrod Taylor, Sammy Watkins and Cordy Glenn for draft picks over the last two years. They’ll spend the next month trying to trade those draft picks for one really high draft pick. They’ll use that really high draft pick to draft a quarterback who will have no one to throw to and a depleted line protecting him. At least McDermott will have a locker room full of his type of guys, most of whom are defensive linemen and linebackers.

The cap-rich 49ers then added Richard Sherman, Weston Richburg and Jerick McKinnon in free agency, and they’ll have a chance to bring in more talent with a top-10 pick in the draft.

But there were clues that the Niners were better than their results prior to that late-season dash. When San Francisco started the 2017 campaign 0-6, five of those losses came by three points or fewer, and two came in overtime. They could have easily started 3-3 or even 4-2, which means they seriously could have been a 10-win team had Garoppolo been the starter from the get-go.

This team is even better than that one, and the Cardinals and Seahawks have both taken steps backward. Don’t be surprised if Kyle Shanahan’s squad makes a playoff run in 2018.

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Allen Park – The Detroit Lions announced the signing of free agent guard Kenny Wiggins Thursday afternoon. Terms of the contract were not immediately known.

NFL to consider restoring’football move’ requirement for catch More The NFL is going back in time to try to define and clarify a legal catch. The league’s competition committee next week will recommend restoring the football move requirement for a reception, the same term it removed from the rule in 2015 in an attempt to make a catch less subjective and easier to officiate. Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, announced the recommendation Wednesday in a tweet. The competition committee will present to all 32 owners at the league meetings, which begin Sunday evening in Orlando, Fla. In March 2015, the league replaced the football move criteria for a catch by attempting to clarify what constituted such a move.

He explains: Under my previous contract with Seattle, I had no guaranteed money for 2018. In my new deal with the 49ers, I get a guaranteed $3 million signing bonus right off the bat and another $2 million if I pass a physical before November 11, which is the last day a team can bring a player off the PUP list. And in a sport where contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, money in hand is better than anything. So $5 million for just signing the contract and passing a physical is a big win for me.

Outside of this past season, I’ve never missed a game in my NFL career. So on top of my signing bonus and my $2 million base salary for 2018, we put incentives in the contract that will pay me more depending on how much I play — on both a per-game basis and a percentage of defensive snaps — as well whether or not I make the Pro Bowl or the All-Pro team. All in all, including my signing bonus, I could earn as much as $13 million for 2018.